Today we’d like to introduce you to Calil Cage.
Hi Calil, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After hearing rappers like Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, I started writing rhymes when I was about 8 or 9. It felt good to hear how other people felt, seeing that we shared the same feelings. As I got older though, I started to move away from rapping and found how therapeutic it was to simply write down my thoughts, emotions, and feelings through poetry… it didn’t have to rhyme or “make sense” all the time.
I stuck to only writing poetry for a while, but then began performing spoken word in 2016 once I got to Kent State University. I started to see how vocally expressing myself helped me relieve all the pent-up aggression, but also how it helped others feel heard and understood. I will admit, I started doing poetry for fun at first – just something to do when I had nothing to do.
I started taking myself seriously as an artist around 2019, when I began making strides to write and finish my first book, Evolving When Love Has No Reality. Once I started to pick up steam, folks began to reach out and hear my work in other cities, such as Detroit, and Columbus… and then the pandemic happened. The pandemic gave me a fresh start though, I had a moment to meditate on my direction and where I wanted to go as an artist… and how to get there. I recalculated.
From there, I began to push out my work on social media – and I did well, but social media isn’t my favorite platform. I think it takes feeling the poetry in an experiential form, face to face, to let the words permeate inside your heart, mind, and soul. I moved to Cleveland in May 2021, once I graduated. As the pandemic began to reshape the world, open mics began to spring up again and I was able to showcase my work in a new city. I’m blessed to have been welcomed in and recognized as a crowd favorite.
From there, I started to meet similar artists who I loved listening to and sharing platforms with. I formulated an idea to create a space where artists could network with one another, and collaborate to create showcases that gifts the audience with a full-circle experience. We labeled our organization The Sparrow’s Fortune.
There is power in numbers, and that has shown very well over the past 10 months. We hope to continue to excel and expand as we grow and launch into new endeavors as a collective and as individuals. As for myself, I plan to continue to heal and impact communities through my work while creating more spaces and platforms for other artists.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been a smooth road for me. Poetry has always been my outlet, a place where I can throw tantrums, laugh, cry, and remember moments. In a way, poetry has helped pave a smoother road for me. Throughout my childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, I have faced adversity within my environments and relationships with my parents, friends, and romantic partners.
I have experienced plenty of moments where I felt that giving up and doing something different in life was the only option… however, somehow resilience, my vision for something bigger, and my faith in God have always helped me overcome those doubtful moments. I share a lot of those obstacles within my work, both inside my book, and within my spoken word pieces.
Building a life out of poetry was ultimately my way of re-creating a life that I can say I’m happy to wake up to. I’m now at a place spiritually, emotionally, and mentally where I know that obstacles and barriers are part of the journey. I’ve learned to accept them and do what I can to navigate through them.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At Kent State University, I studied Human Development and Family Studies. Within this area of study, I learned a lot about psychology, sociology, and social work. Through coursework, volunteer opportunities, and internships, I was able to explore myself, my family, and of course, the lives and family structures of younger folks.
This led me to have a passion for changing the dynamic of families, adolescent perspectives, and education amongst communities as a whole – specifically marginalized communities and those with low-socioeconomic backgrounds. Now, I build curriculums centered around social-emotional learning and positive youth development. I love seeing the light bulb go off when students get interested in the topic of conversation, especially within my creative writing sessions.
A lot of my studying within family intervention practices and healing seeps into my artistry, as does my artistry seep into my professional work in education. As I continue to build my life around these large pillars, they have begun to become my special path, seeing how they intersect and ultimately create a life where I can fully exude my wisdom and practices in both areas simultaneously.
We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking.
A while ago, I shared a personal essay on being in “Uncharted Territory”. I always found myself being different from my family and peers as I grew to become my person. For a while, I seemed to have been the only person to live a life not built around my environmental, familial, or financial circumstances. I have a vision that looks nothing like my upbringing… and honestly, it still scares me a little bit… because I haven’t seen or experienced it yet… and neither has anyone in my family.
From the moment I left home at 18 to go to college, I felt as though my entire life has been a risk… up for grabs… I always felt weird being in college, knowing that no one I knew at the time had experienced it before. Throughout college, the only people who could relate to me were my new college friends. As I graduated in 2021, I realized I had no one to fall back on – not safely, or comfortably, at least.
I was able to land a good salary position at a consulting firm in my last semester, which, in itself, was a scary task because due to the pandemic, all of my friends were striking out with gaining positions within their career fields. I knew being in Cleveland would be different because I hadn’t lived here before, but somehow I knew it was the right decision.
As I began to strive within my poetry career, taking those chances to hit the road and experience new cities was different. I had to be confident in my work, I had to be confident that the audience would receive me well, I had to be confident that the folks I reached out to would believe in me… I had to be confident that my car would take me from point A to point B. It worked though… and it all continues to work.
Writing my book was a risk because, for one, it was self-published, and two, I included the names of some of my previous partners. I reached out to them to ensure it was okay to let our relationship (from my perspective) be seen for others to read – not all of them agreed. However, the book has been doing quite well and I have received great reviews as it resonates with others.
As I branch into creating The Sparrow’s Fortune and focus on expanding our team, it’s a risky process due to truly having to take on a leadership role and navigate the thoughts and opinions of others. I’ve learned that risk and reward are part of the process though, you have to give to gain… and I’m willing to go all in. I have faith that life always works out the way it needs to.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.justcos902.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/just.c.o.s/?hl=en
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/thesparrowsfortune/?hl=en
Image Credits
Don Flixx, Kyra J. Wells, Valencia Dove, and Alieneyezphotos Event Photography
